Six Cities Where Rents Are Skyrocketing

Colorado Springs has as experienced only a modest increase in jobs in the past year. Yet rent in the region increased 10.2% in the 12 months ending April 31 — the sixth-largest increase among the 100 metropolitan areas the agency examines. Home prices also increased over the same period by 4.3%. According to Realtor.com, the number of listings in the area fell more than 25% in the past year, perhaps partly explaining the price increase.

Of the 100 metro regions examined by Trulia, home prices in Indianapolis had the second-smallest decline during the recession, losing just 6.6% of total value. In the past year, job growth was roughly 1.5%, above average for the cities on our list. Compared to rents, asking home prices increased to a much lesser extent of just 1.7%, the 32nd-largest rise among the cities examined. According to Realtor.com, list prices as of April 31 were among the lowest in the U.S.

During the recession, home prices in the Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills area of Michigan fell 35.5%, among the biggest drops in the country. Recently, however, asking home prices in the region, which is part of suburban Detroit, have recovered rapidly, up 6.9% in the past year alone. Compared to homes, however, rent prices have truly skyrocketed in the past year. In the last quarter alone, rent went up 4.5%. In the past 12 months, rents are up 11.8%. The likely reason for this increase is the 2.5% growth in employment in the area, the 10th-highest jump in the U.S.

Among the real estate markets to have the largest increases in rent in the past year, no region was more severely affected by the recession. Home prices in the area fell 45.5% from peak, the 14th-biggest decline in the country. However, the situation has begun to turn around in the area. Home prices increased 16.1% in the past year, and rents rose an estimated 12.3% during that time. Job growth is strong in the area at 2.34%.

The increasing popularity of the San Francisco real estate market is extremely lopsided. List prices for homes actually fell 0.5% in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, rent prices increased 13.2% — the second-largest increase in the country. The number of employed people in the city grew just shy of 3% in the past year, the seventh-highest rate in the country.

Job growth in the Edison-New Brunswick metro area has been modest. Nevertheless, rent in the region jumped a full 15.6% in 12 months, by far the largest increase in the country. In the past quarter alone, rent increased 4%. Meanwhile, home prices actually fell 4.7%, the 11th-largest decrease in the country.